At the centre of the bizarre kidnapping plot is a charismatic church leader known as Pastor Peter Rigo, who founded the evangelical Dominion Christian Centre Canada, now known as One Community Church, on Park Street North in Hamilton.

A law student who participated in a brazen daylight kidnapping was sentenced to 15 months house arrest yesterday after admitting to a bizarre plot to rescuea woman whose family feared she was being brainwashed by a religious cult.

An evangelical church that used donor money to pay for gym memberships, Gucci fashion accessories and trips to Hawaii and elsewhere for its directors has been stripped of its charitable licence by the federal government.